Survey of Nutrition and Social Development in the...

International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences December 2013, Vol. 3, No. 12

ISSN: 2222-6990

259 www.hrmars.com/journals

Survey of Nutrition and Social Development in the World

Maryam Azar

PhD student of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University Dehaghan

Aliakbar Shafighi PhD student of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University Dehaghan

DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v3-i12/432 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v3-i12/432

Abstract Paying attention to social development in the world has been dramatically upward during the last 25 years. For the first time United Nations paid attentions to social aspects of development (1968). Before this period, the development concept was limited solely on the economy field and just rise in per capita income and economic growth was considered as a symbol of communities' development. A developed government and community is one which has fulfilled minimum needs of the residents in the areas of housing, education, nutrition and health care, there is no doubt that the nutrition of each individual is associated with the state of his mental and physical health. This research has been done on determining nutritional indicators and social development indicators and the relationship between them in 1391. The population of this research is all the countries of the world. To select some cases to study, we needed some countries having access to statistics of target indicators of nutrition and social development. The study samples were selected using sampling method. According to sampling method and sample selection criteria and according to UNICEF website in 2006-2010, data required for this research was formally announced only in 23 countries. SPSS software was used to analyze data. Mean and standard deviation from descriptive tests and, Pearson correlation coefficient from inferential tests were used for significance correlation. The results suggest that there is a significant relationship between nutrition and social development. Keywords: Nutrition, Development, and Social Development.

Introduction Social development can be considered as a movement towards better compatibility between the individual and society, providing security to citizens in all areas, creating equal conditions. Social development should result in more prosperity for people to have more satisfying life. Social development can occur in a society in which class gap, discrimination and exploitation are minimized and there is a fair distribution of income and power and the gap between poor and rich is decreased. It seems that development and social welfare are two sides of one coin. About the importance of social welfare it has been said that these are not the targets of development but they themselves are considered as development. It means a government and


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a society can be considered as developed one who has fulfilled minimum level of its residents' needs in housing, education, nutrition and health. Maybe someday, nutrition was considered just to satisfy people's physiological needs, but today nutrition is not only a necessity of life, but healthy food pattern is recognized as an important factor to improve communities and promote production and productivity in countries. This study aimed at determining the indices of social development and nutrition and also checking if there is a significant relationship between nutrition and social development. Research framework Nutrition Although health is dependent on several factors, such as heredity, environment, lifestyle and culture, but nutrition and physical activity are so important for health (Duyff, 2002). There is no doubt that every person's nutrition is associated closely with his physical and emotional health and sufficient amounts of nutrients maintain health and improve his performance (Koch & Pokorn, 1999). Protein - calories malnutrition or lack of micronutrients are some part of wrong nutrition and many chronic diseases such as cancer, heart - cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and ...all are related to indulge in conserving certain nutrients or wrong eating patterns ( Aldana et al, 2006). The role of nutrition has been known as the most controllable risk factor for these diseases (Schaller & James, 2005). Knowledge of nutrition is one of the factors in addition of the individual, affects on the family and friends' eating habits. Many people consider physicians as source of nutritional information, while studies have found that physicians have inadequate and low nutritional information (Ozcelik et al, 2007). Malnutrition is "food shortages associated with increased mortality." Hunger and malnutrition are the regrettable realities of the world. While people are living in many industrialized societies malnutrition every year leads to the deaths of 5.6 million children under age 5 in non-industrial societies. Malnutrition has serious effects on children such as secondary infections immune deficiency, lack of learning and failure in school. Moreover malnutrition threatens in women's ability to have healthy children in the future and continuing generation cycle. Good nutrition is the cornerstone of health and development, not only for the present but also for future generations. Women who are well-fed face fewer risks during pregnancy. Greatest physiological stress in women's lives is produced during pregnancy that creates the most important change in their living situation. This physiological stress is due to fetus needs. That's why pregnant women need increased energy and nutrients compared with normal women. Mother feeding is associated with her success in fertility, pregnancy, maternity, health care and fetal growth. Significant increases metabolism in pregnancy emphasizes on the importance of nutrition and diet in this particular period of the life cycle.( Sajadi, Kaboudi, 1999). Nutrition during pregnancy affects on birth weight and infant health and considering that one of the most important parameters determining the baby's chances of survival and normal growth is birth weight, so this issue will become more important. Miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death and fetal malformations are increased in times of famine and there is a


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significant relationship between the average weight and average height at birth and infant survival (Pourabdollahi & Ebrahim, 1999). Low birth weight (less than 2500 grams) has been an important factor for neonatal death and long-term health problems such as learning disabilities and mental disorders in America. Mortality in children with low birth weight due to prematurity or intrauterine growth is 40 times higher than normal birth weight infant death. So it seems that the relationship between infancy mortality and birth weight of the baby is more than during pregnancy. It is believed that with the reduced rate of low birth weight, infant mortality dramatically reduced (Sajadi Kaboudi, 1999). Breastfeeding is recommended for all infants and it should start as soon as birth and should last until 6 months of age exclusively. Breast milk is most suitable one for infants for many reasons. Some of the most important reasons are: transferring immune booster factors, emotional communication between mother and child, suitability of protein and other nutrients for the baby, Getting adequate amounts of fat and fluid in milk, providing much needed minerals and lack of pollution (Fanaroff & Martin,2002). Breastfeeding, vaccination and antibiotic treatment can save 3 million newborn lives every year. Malnutrition can impact on the nutritional status by increasing diseases. The highest mortality rates in Africa and Southeast Asia is due to pneumonia and diarrhea. Availability of safe drinking water is very important because lack of safe drinking water causes acute diarrhea in young children less than 1 year and it is related strongly with infant mortality rates. Health care and prescription vitamin A supplement 2 or 3 times a year can prevent blindness and death and save the lives of millions of children every year. Development Development is one of the issues discussed not only in the field of development sociology, but also in many fields of sociology, in particular, and in the social sciences field, in general. Development was introduced as an inclusive term after World War II. Several definitions have been provided for development, all of them have a common feature: move forward from the current situation to the desired situation. Development has comprehensive economic, social, political, cultural and ...dimensions and these aspects are closely related to each other. Development complete fulfillment depends on fulfilling its all dimensions. Development is a time consuming process whose fulfillment required large changes; So it is not a goal to be achieved in the short term. Bostus Moores, the conservative founder of social history, used development term to refer to the process of gradual evolution from the year 1768 (Azad Armaki, 2008). Development sociologists, compare development issues with growth issues. Development means expansion, enlargement. Contrary to the growth implications this term is broad and multi-dimensional it involves fundamental changes in society to lead to material and spiritual prosperity (Azkia, 1993). Classical scholars of social science thought that development of human society depends on economic growth and progress, but they further noted that beside the economic growth and development, the society requires some necessities like equitable distribution of income, diverse talents and human personalities prosperity, physical and mental health, increased life expectancy, social equality, freedom, social human communication away from different kinds of domination, and, in general, it requires establishing civilian and


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humanitarian society, so nowadays it is said that all kinds of developments are reasons to provide a civil and humanitarian society. Such a society can be considered as a developed society in the true sense. In general, there is no comprehensive agreement between planners and scientists about the meaning of the word "development". But what they all agree on is that the development is necessary, and everybody is looking for it but according to his/her thought. Development of a highly complex and multifaceted phenomenon and its meaning cannot be understood unless it various aspects are considered simultaneously. Some of the most important points should be considered in definition of development include, first, the development should be considered as a category of value, second, it should be considered as a multi-dimensional and complex process, and third, we should consider its association and its vicinity with improvement concept (Azkia and Ghafari, 2006). Social development The concept of social development is unclear and complicated and includes views and various topics that are not only different but also sometimes are opposite. Nancy (2000), interpreted social development to "responsibility". Responsibility of governments, professionals, financial investors and governments – nations as members of the world community but most importantly social development is related to human rights, and more broadly workers' rights, organized or unorganized, the right to development and the right to the higher quality service, the right to a healthy environment and an equal share of the benefits of economic growth. Styes (2001) defines social development as an interdisciplinary and cross-sectional area in search of material and social welfare of people in all society levels. This definition explains two points: first, satisfaction of people basic needs by providing the minimum requirements and second, increasing the freedom that can be measured by choices that people can have. In his opinion social development goals are followed through people participation to maximum extent in determining objectives and the development outcomes. Azkia considers social development as a concept associated closely with the way of life of a community people and it is related to heighten public life level through the creation of favorable conditions in the areas of poverty alleviation and improved nutrition, health, housing, employment, education, and spending leisure. Also he considers improvement in social conditions of a community and in the broader dimension discussion related to civil society, social democracy, social justice, social welfare and social capital as central topics of social development (Azkia and Ghafari 2006). On the other hand, social development includes a dimension of the development emphasizes and concentrates on human interactions, social institutions and relationships with each other (Piran, 2006). Paying attention to social development has been dramatically upward in the last 25 years in the world. For the first time the United Nations (1968) showed attention to the social aspects of development (Akbari , 2002). All issues that have been raised so far in the field of social development are classified into two categories: welfare-oriented and Marxist approaches: Theorists of welfare-oriented perspective, consider social development towards a better quality of life. For example, Warner believes that social development is summarized in providing


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people living facilities in society. In expressing importance of living facilities Weber believes that life chances include access to better living conditions and better personal life experiences. Marxist views have chosen political approach in discussing of social development and they believe in establishing social justice and political practices based on social equality. For example, Dong Kim's opinion can be referred who believes social development is a measure of the change in the social structure not only allows the most deprived communities to demand their share of national resources but also helps them in achieving them. In his opinion if society structural change is in a direction to provide necessary chances for deprived category to access their share of national resources, this direction is development process. In fact, in their opinion (Marxist view) social development process is a process that in a society free from exploitation, social exploitation can be achieved (Nateghpoor, 2008). Research objectives 1. Identifying nutritional indicators 2. Identifying social development indicators Materials and Methods In this study, the population is the whole world countries. In order to select some samples to study, we needed those countries which have access to the index data on nutrition and social development in the years 2006-2010. Samples of the study were selected using existed sampling method. Due to sampling method and sample selection criteria and a visit to UNICEF website, only 23 countries had formally announced the required data for this study in 2006-2010. Regarding our issue, selected social development indicators are: life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, the mortality rate for children under 5 years, access to safe drinking water, access to sanitation facilities and the share of household income. As other indices, percentage is needed for the statistics calculation. So, in order to convert the raw age of life expectancy to life expectancy, 83 years of age is considered as the highest life expectancy in the world, which belongs to Japan. Then, we divided life expectancy by human life in the studied countries and a raw number was obtained. Multiplying this number in 100, levels of life expectancy is obtained. In order to obtain the conversion rate of infant mortality and children mortality in percent, the above method was used. The highest rate of infant mortality is in Sierra Leone, with 114 cases, and the highest mortality rate for children under 5 years is in Somalia, with 185 people. Since the 2 infant mortality rates and children mortality rates are negative indicators, numerical values of these two indicators are subtracted from one to have a positive indicator. In order to determine the numerical value of the index of social development, this study selected indicators are added, and the resulting values is divided by the number of indicators. Selected indicators of nutrition in the study, according to current statistics are infants with low birth weight, early breastfeeding, weight deficits in children under 5 years and children aged 6 to 59 months who are taking vitamin A. According to the two negative indicators of infants with low birth weight and weight deficits in children under 5 years, these indices subtracted from one to have a positive indicator and entered the software. In order to determine the nutrition


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numerical values, selected indices are added and the resulting value is divided by the number of indicators. Findings

Nutrition indicators statistics using data from UNICEF website in the years 2006 -2010 Using UNICEF website, nutrition indicators can be found in Table 1. Table (1): statistics on indicators of nutrition, using the UNICEF website in 2006-2010

Infants with low birth weight (%)

Early breast feed (%)

Weight deficits in children under 5 years (%)

Children aged 6 to 59 months who are taking vitamin A(%)

1) Angola 11 55 16 28

2) Azerbaijan 10 32 8 89

3) Bangladesh 22 43 41 100

4) Bolivia 6 61 4 24

5) Cameron 11 20 16 89

6) Central Africa 13 39 24 0

7) Chad 22 34 30 68

8) DR Congo 13 39 11 84

9) Korea 6 18 19 99

10) Ethiopia 20 69 33 84

11) The Gambia 11 53 18 100

12) Ghana 13 52 14 93

13) Guatemala 11 56 13 36

14) Haiti 25 44 18 21

15) India 28 41 43 34

16) Indonesia 9 44 18 80

17) Kenya 8 58 16 62

18) Malawi 13 58 13 96


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19) Financial 19 46 27 99

20) Mongolia 5 81 5 61

21) Mozambique 16 63 18 100

22) Nicaragua 9 54 6 7

23) Nigeria 12 38 23 91

Statistical indicators of social development between the years 2006-2010, using the

UNICEF website Using UNICEF website, social development indicators can be found in Table 2. Table (2): statistics on indicators of social development, using the UNICEF website in 2006-2010

life expectancy at birth

Life expectancy at birth (%)

Infant mortality rate

Infant mortality rate (%)

Mortality Rate in children under 5 years

Mortality Rate in children under 5 years (%)

Access to safe water (%)

Access to sanitation (%)

Household income share (%)

1) Angola 51 61 98 85 161 89 50 57 62

2) Azerbaijan

71 85 39 34 46 25 80 81 42

3) Bangladesh

69 83 38 33 48 26 80 53 41

4) Bolivia 66 79 42 36 54 30 86 25 61

5) Cameron 51 61 84 73 136 75 74 47 51

6)Central Africa

48 57 106 92 159 88 67 34 49

7) Chad 49 59 99 86 173 96 50 9 47

8) Congo 57 68 61 53 93 51 71 30 53

9) Korea 69 83 26 22 33 18 100 83 62


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10) Ethiopia 59 71 68 59 106 58 38 12 39

11)The Gambia

58 69 57 50 98 54 92 67 53

12) Ghana 64 77 50 43 74 41 82 13 48

13) Guatemala

71 85 25 21 32 17 94 81 58

14) Haiti 62 74 70 61 165 91 63 17 63

15) India 65 78 48 42 63 35 88 31 45

16) Indonesia

69 83 27 23 35 19 80 52 45

17) Kenya 57 68 55 48 85 47 59 31 53

18) Malawi 54 65 58 50 92 51 80 56 46

19) Financial 51 61 99 86 178 98 56 36 46

20) Mongolia

68 81 26 22 32 17 76 50 44

21)Mozambique

50 60 92 80 135 75 47 17 52

22) Nicaragua

74t 89 23 20 27 15 85 52 57

23) Nigeria 51 61 88 77 143 79 58 32 49

Mean indicators of nutrition and social development between the years 2006-2010 Nutrition and social development indicators mean can be found in Chart 2 as a comparison between studied countries.


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.

Chart (1): Statistics on mean indicators of social development and nutrition in general in the years 2006-2010 using SPSS software

In chart (1) light pepper bar shows mean social development and dark pepper bar shows mean nutrition in general in the studied countries in the years 2006-2010.

Mean nutritional indicators in general in the years 2006-2010 Table (3): Mean nutritional indicators in general in the years 2006-2010

Number Mean Minimum maximum Standard deviation

Low Weight Infants (%) 23 13.06 5 28 6.25

Early breast feed (%) 23 37.13 3 72 19.01

Weight deficits in children under 5 years (%)

23 18.86 4 43 10.41

Children aged 6 to 59 months, who use vitamin A (%)

23 56.30 3 98 27.84

Nutrition in general 23 61.01 47.5 79 8.21


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Chart (2): General mean nutrition indicators between the years 2006-2010

Mean indices of social development in general between the years 2006-2010 Table 4: Mean indices of social development in general between the years 2006-2010

Number Mean Minimum The maximum amount

Standard deviation

Life expectancy at birth (%) 23 72 .08 57 89 10.21

Infant mortality rate (%) 23 52 20 92 24.07

The mortality rate for children under 5 years (%)

23 51.95 15 98 28.96

Access to safe water (%) 23 72 38 10 16.71

Access to sanitation (%) 23 42 9 83 22.49

The share of household income (%)

23 50.69 39 63 7 .10

Development as a whole 23 55.47 5.30 81.33 15.12


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Chart 3: Mean indicators of social development in general between the years 2006-2010 Pearson correlation between nutrition and social development in the years 2006-

2010 Table 5: Pearson correlation between nutrition and social development in the years 2006-2010

Life expectancy at birth (%)

Infant mortality rate (%)

The mortality rate for children under 5 years (%)

Access to safe water (%)

Access to sanitation (%)

The share of household income (%)

Total Development

Infants with low birth weight (%)

0.219

Sig = 0.315

0.415

Sig = 0.0 4 8

0.436

Sig = 0.037

0.349

Sig = 0.103

0.489

Sig = 0.018

0.297

Sig = 0.168

0.472 Sig = 0.023

Early breast feed (%)

0.421

Sig = 0.046

0.525

Sig = 0.010

0.482

Sig = 0.020

0.455

Sig = 0.029

0.088

Sig = 0.691

0.040

Sig = 0.856

0.449

Sig = 0.032

Weight deficits in

0.293 0.262

Sig =

0.188

Sig =

0.291

Sig =

0.199 Sig = 0.364

0.418 Sig = 0.047

0.298


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children under 5 years (%)

Sig = 0.175

0.228

0.391

0.178

Sig = 0.168

Children aged 6 to 59 months who use vitamin A (%)

0.074

Sig = 0.737

0.103

Sig = 0.641

0.415

Sig = 0 .032

0.082

Sig = 0.709

0.066

Sig = 0.766

0.037

Sig = 0.866

0.123

Sig = 0.577

Nutrition in general

0.426

Sig = 0.043

0.532

Sig = 0.009

0.568

Sig = 0.005

0.477

Sig = 0.021

0.253

Sig = 0.245

0.159

Sig = 0.468

0.533

Sig = 0.009

According to Table (5), between the years 2006-2010, there is a significant

correlation between infants with low birth weight and infant mortality indicators, mortality in children under 5 and access to sanitation and development in general.

According to Table (5), there is a significant correlation between early breastfeeding and indicators of life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, the mortality rate for children under 5 years, access to safe drinking water and general development in the years 2006-2010.

According to Table (5), there is no significant correlation between weight loss in children under 5 and the share of household income in the years 2006-2010.

According to Table (5), there is a significant correlation between children who use vitamin A and children mortality rates in the years 2006-2010.

According to Table (5), there is a significant correlation between general nutrition indicator and life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, the mortality rate for children under 5 years, access to safe drinking water and total development.

Discussion: This study carried out about nutritional indicators and indicators of social development and the relationship between the two in 2012. Using available sampling methods and UNICEF website, 23 countries were submitted to study. 6 indicators were considered for social development: life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, the mortality rate for children under 5 years, access to safe drinking water, access to sanitation and the share of household income. indices means are: Life expectancy at birth (72.08%), infant mortality rate (52%), the mortality rate for


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children under 5 years (51.95%), access to safe drinking water (72%), access to health facilities ( 42%), the share of household income (50.69%), respectively. According to UNICEF statistics, 4 indices for nutrition are considered: infants with low birth weight, early initiation of breastfeeding, weight deficits in children under 5 years and children ages 6 to 59 months who take vitamin A. Using the statistical software, the mean of these indicators between the years 2006-2010 are: infants with low birth weight (13.6%), early initiation of breastfeeding (37.13%), weight deficits in children under 5 years (18.86%) and children ages 6 to 59 months who take vitamin A (56.3%). Generally, nutrition mean was 61.01% and social development mean was 55.47% between the years 2006-2010, respectively. Using Pearson correlation and according to Table 5, the index of the nutrition related to life expectancy at birth between the years 2006-2010 was early initiation of breastfeeding. In other cases, there were significant correlations between infants with low birth weight and early breastfeeding, children ages 6 to 59 months who take vitamin A and children under 5 years mortality rate, early initiation of breastfeeding and access to safe drinking water, low-weight infants and access to sanitation facilities, weight deficits in children under 5 years, and the share of household income between the years 2006-2010. Generally, it was found that there is a significant relationship between nutrition and social development and the hypothesis was confirmed in this study. Resources (1) - Azad Armaki, T. (2007). Development Sociology, Tehran, Elm Publications. (2) - Azkia, Mustafa. (1992). Development Sociology and Underdevelopment in Iran Villages, Tehran, Information Institute Publications (3) - Azkia, M. and Ghaffari, G. (2005). Development Sociology, Fifth Edition, Kayhan Publications, Tehran (4) - Akbari, Qazanfar. (2001). Iranian Current Situation with Regard to Social Development Indicators, Proceedings of the Conference on Social Development, , Scientific and Cultural Publishing Company, Tehran (5) - Piran, Parviz. (2005), Globalization and Development, Proceedings of the conference on policy and management development programs in Iran, Institute of Education and Research Management and Planning, Tehran (6) - Nateghpour, MJ. (2007). A New Approach in Social Pathology from Development Point of View, Salman publication, Tehran (7) _ Aldana SG, Greenlaw RL, Diehl HA, Solberg A, Merrill Rm, Ohmines S, Thomas C. The behavioral and clinical effects of therapeutic lifestyle change on middle-aged adults. Prev Chronic Dis 2006; 3 (1): 105. (8) - Duyff, RL. American dietetic association complete food and nutrition guide. 2nd ed. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2002. (9) - Estes, Richard I. Social welfare and social dev.: Partners or competitors. University of Pennsylvania, 2001 (10) - Koch V, Pokorn D. Comparison of nutritional habits among various adult age groups in Slovenia. Nutr Res 1999; 19 (8): 1153-1164. (11) - Nancy, Riche. Economic and social Dev.: Tow sides of some coin world summation social Dev. Economic Dev. and social Responsibility, June 30, Geneva, Switzerland, 2000.


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(12) - Özçelik AÖ, Surucuoglo MS, Akan LS. Survey on the nutrition knowledge level of Turkish physicians Ankara as a sample, Pakistan Journal of Nutrition 2007; 6 (6): 538-42. (13) - Pourabdollahi P, Ebrahim mameghani M. Assessment of nutritional knowledge of high school girls in Tabriz city. The Fifth Iranian Congress of Nutrition, Shaheed Beheshti University of medical sciences, National Institute of Nutrition and Food technology Research, 1999. (14) - Sajadi Kaboudi P, Comparison and assessment of nutritional status of girls in state and private high schools in Babol City. The Fifth Iranian Congress of Nutrition, Shaheed Beheshti University of medical sciences, National Institute of Nutrition and Food technology Research, 1999 (15) - Schaller C, James EL. The nutritional knowledge of Australian nurses. Nurse Edu Today 2005; 25 (5): 405-12. (16) - www.unicef.org

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